Army Budget

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Army's fiscal year (FY) 1990 operation and maintenance budget to identify potential reductions in its flying hour and force modernization programs.

GAO found that the Army: (1) requested $335.2 million and over 1.8 million flying hours for its Flying Hour Program for FY 1990; (2) cited aircraft groundings, aircraft unavailability, adverse weather, and delayed fieldings as factors in its pattern of underuse of funded flying hours between FY 1985 and 1988; (3) requested about $2.3 billion for the Force Modernization Program, including $523 million for fielding additional systems and $1.8 billion for sustaining fielded systems; and (4) subsequently changed the numbers of units it planned to field or sustain, resulting in its understating or overstating some of its requirements. GAO believes that the: (1) Army has not adequately justified its FY 1990 request for $15.6 million to fund a 6.1-percent increase in flying hours, since it has historically underused its funded flying hours; and (2) Force Modernization Program changes provided a basis for reducing that portion of the Army's budget request by $15.6 million.